Cousins Abroad
by tally934
Summary: Ruin and Andtalathiel Took are cousins, and the great-grandaughters of Peregrin Took. They recieve a summons calling them to Rivendell, where they are asked to spy in Mordor, and investigate the rumours of a new Dark Lord...


Ruin awoke with a start. A large drop of water had just fallen Smack! onto her face from the tree above. It was very cold.   
Last night it had rained, and made for miserable walking until they reached a suitible campsite. Ruin had to keep sneezing to hide the fact she was laughing at poor Andtalathiel, who forgot her hooded coat and they had to drape some cloth over her head so she wouldn't catch cold. Ruin had a hood but she got very cold faster than most people, and now she was sneezing and coughing away.   
Andtalathiel was busy making a fire, so Ruin poked some meat on sticks. Ruin, though she hated formal cooking, ws fairly good at coming up with something edible when they were traveling. She had been taught, of course, what to eat and what not to, and she was good with rocks. When she was hunting, she would fling large rocks, that would fell a coney before they felt the impact. She had not mastered the bow yet, even though both elves and hobbits were good at it, she was lacking in that field, and had almost shot poor Andtalathiel once.   
They ate quickly, and went on their way.Ruin was sneezing, and this time it was not to hide laughter. She had two cloaks on, and two shirts and two pairs of socks. She was even wearing shoes, it was so cold...   
Andtalathiel was less miserable. She was the older of the two, and the taller. She noted her cousin was less than happy, an unusual phase for Ruin. Ruin had, well, she was very...cheerful, usually, joking and being sarcastic every where. Tally, as Ruin called her for short, was worried. Rivendell was still a week away, and a cold? A cold out here would get worse, unless they stopped and nursed it, and for that they didn't have time.   
"Ruin, catch your running nose and see who can run the fastest to that tree!" she said cheerfully. Andtalathiel was by far the faster runner, and soon was there. Ruin ran faster, and suddenly sneezed, so violently she jumped.   
"Ah don wanna run, nah now." she sniffled, holding back another violent explosion. It didn't work, and she jumped again.   
Andtalathiel laughed. Ruin glared at her, "Ah don think is funny....ACHOO!"she jumped again, and shivered. Andtalathiel got out a spare cloak of her own, and Ruin put it on. Ruin coughed some more.   
"Do you want medicine for that?" asked Andtalathiel.   
It became obvious by the look on Ruin's face that she did not want medicine."No orc food!"   
"Well, you will need some if that cough doesn't stop." said Andtalathiel, putting both hands on her hips.   
"It's gon-"said Ruin, right before she had another hacking cough.   
"Of course it is." said Andtalathiel, and they walked on.   
* * *   
The more they walked, the more Andtalathiel noticed Ruin was lagging behind. She was sneezing every few seconds now, and her nose was bright red in contrast to the rest of her face, which had turned sickly pale. Andtalathiel finally took pity and turned to face Ruin, who stood there sniffling.   
"Do you want to stop for a bit?" she asked softly. Ruin nodded, before sneezing so violently that she practically fell over.   
"Well, lay down your pack and lets get out some stuff to eat," Andtalathiel suggested. She might look more like an elf, but she had the traditional hobbit-sized appetite and at that moment she was starving hungry. Ruin didn't look very well, but she seemed to be hungry enough to eat despite her illness. Though Andtalathiel noticed that she was nibbling her food, rather than stuffing it down like she normally did.   
"How are you feeling?" asked Andtalathiel tentatively when they were halfway through the meal.   
"Dot so gud," mumbled Ruin, sniffling.   
Andtalathiel interprited this to mean, "not so good". She hesitated, wondering what to do. If they carried on at this pace, it would be _more _than a week to Rivendell. And they really couldn't afford to lose any more time.   
"I'm really, really sorry about this Ruin," she announced grimly. "But you're going to have to take some medicine."   
"No!" cried Ruin, suddenly tense and sitting up straight.   
"Yes," insisted Andtalathiel. Feeling really mean and wishing she didn't have to do this, she brought out some medicine from her pack and walked over to where Ruin was crouching.   
* * *   
"Orc drink." stated Ruin. "Orc drink. I can still taste it."   
Andtalathiel sighed. "Well, you are feeling better now, aren't you?"   
"No. I just don't want anymore orc drink." scowled Ruin. The medicine had not gone down without a fight and losing a great deal of it due to Ruin's talent of apperently swallowing it before spitting it out on the ground. Andtalathiel had to sit on her to make her take it, and Ruin kicked and fought well.   
" We can't waste time, and you can't keep up if you sneeze every four feet, and cough every two."   
"Yes, I can."growled Ruin, unusually irritable. Ruin would not stand to be pitied, and she got a lot of it being the smallest. She didn't look it but she could cause some mischief.   
"Well, then show it and keep up!" replied Andtalathiel, and they got up and walked. Ruin proved that she could keep up, and was soon ahead of Andtalathiel.   
Andtalathiel watched Ruin, who had to explore every off-path, take a drink from every spring, and climb all the trees. She was up in a branch of one when Andtalathiel caught up with her.   
"Look!" she said, and pointed. "I can see the valley, we're almost ther-" she sneezed, and fell out of the tree with a yelp.   
Andtalathiel rushd to the other side of the tree, where Ruin was picking herself up. She was now wet, from the dew on the tree, and muddy, from the dirt she fell into.   
"Ruin, are you okay?"   
"That has to be the worst qustion in history," grinned Ruin, cheerfull for a moment. "Apart from,'are you awake?' of course."   
"Well, are you?" persisted Andtalathiel.   
"Of course I am." said Ruin, looking at Andtalathiel's cloak, the rich purple replaced by tears and mud. "Oops..."   
"Now come on! We've only got about four hours left today, and I want to get at least eight more miles before we sleep."said Andtalathiel.   
"Yes, of course," said Ruin, not listening in the least.   
* * *   
Ruin climbed several more trees and fell down a great number of rabbit holes before they stopped to make camp. By this time she was grubby and her clothes were in tatters, but she was in a far more cheerful mood. She ate more food than earlier, and appeared to enjoy it more, too. Andtalathiel was pleased.   
"You'll be able to keep up better now," she smiled. "Not that you had any trouble with running ahead and getting lost," she muttered under her breath.   
Ruin overheard her comment. "I did not get lost!" she cried indignantly. "I was just exploring."   
"Remind me how many trees you fell out of again?" shot back Andtalathiel, though she was holding back a smile.   
They finished their meal and sat around the campfire telling stories. They always did this at the end of a long day, before slowly falling asleep in the dim light of the glowing embers, all that remained of the dying fire. Today there wasn't much storytelling, as Ruin was pretty exhausted and still slightly under the weather. Andtalathiel was barely halfway through her story when Ruin's head lolled onto her chest and she began breathing heavily, deep in dreams.   
Andtalathiel smiled fondly at her cousin and laid down. It had been a long day for both of them, and they were very tired. Now all she wanted to do was sleep for a hundred years....   
* * *   
Ruin awoke before the sun the next morning, and saw Tally still sleeping.   
Hmm…now this wouldn't do at all…   
Stifling a couple of tremor-causing sneezes, she deftly climbed a tree right above Andtalthiel's head. Although very afraid of heights, Ruin delighted in small, twisting trees that if you fell it didn't matter. This was one of those.   
She crept out on a long, thick limb, and took a long string out of her pocket (which always held strange things) and tied a feather to it. She lowered it silently down, until-there, she had it! Swiftly she danced it on the tip of Andtalathiel's nose, then drew it up again. Andtalathiel's face twisted, and she wrinkled her nose, but then-ACHOO!and Ruin landed on top of her, feather, string, and all.   
"Ruin! Where's the oliphaunt?" yelled Andtalathiel, then opened her eyes slowly and glared at Ruin, who was sneezing.   
"Na an olifun. Ith me." sniffled Ruin, wisely not mentioning anything about her plan.   
"Well, then WHY IN ARDA ARE YOU SITTING ON ME?"   
"Um…shneezed an….jus shneezed…"   
"Aha. And that is how you landed on me?" said Andtalathiel sternly.   
Ruin nodded solemnly, tucking the feather furtivly in her back pocket. 

They continued on their way, Ruin not climbing anymore trees. Andtalathiel prepared dinner that night, making a hot soup from tatters and coney that Ruin caught by chance, aiming towards a pheasant, but sneezing and having the stone land right Smack!on the rabbit. Ruin ate a copious amount, and then stayed up very late telling a story.   
Andtalathiel soon dozed off, Ruin's tale proved not to be as captivating as Ruin hoped. She did not sleep under anymore trees, though.   
They were almost at Rivendell when something happened that they hadn't expected. Evening was falling and they were beginning to tire out, but Andtalathiel had them marching on as long as there was any daylight left in the sky. They were now inside a forest, the trees thick and dense. It was slightly spooky, especially as night began to fall.   
"Where _are _we?" demanded Ruin, once more beginning to lag behind.   
"Near Rivendell," replied Andtalathiel cheerily. "We should be there tomorrow evening, at the latest."   
"Yeah, but, what forest is this?" asked Ruin, wrinkling her nose to hold back a sneeze.   
"No idea," admitted Andtalathiel. "I'm not sure it even has a name. Its probably just a thick patch of trees."   
But it was more than a thick patch of trees. It really was a large forest, and neither Ruin nor Andtalathiel could think of what forest it could possibly be. They hadn't known of any such dark, deep forests this near Rivendell - if, indeed, they really _were _near Rivendell...   
"You know," said Andtalathiel uncertainly, after they'd been walking for what seemed like hours and the forest was so black that she could scarcely see in front of her own nose, "I think...we might be lost."   
There was no reply. Andtalathiel turned around. "Ruin?"   
But Ruin was gone.   
Andtalathiel frowned, and looked about her as best she could considering it was very hard to see in such dim light. "Ruin? Where are you?!"   
"Here!" came a muffled and very irritated sounding voice.   
Andtalathiel tried to figure where the voice was coming from, but she really had no clue.   
"Where?" she asked again in confusion.   
"In this tree!" bellowed Ruin.   
Andtalathiel took a few careful steps forward like a blind man. The darkness was so thick she had no idea where any of the trees _were. _But suddenly, she bumped into something. Running her hands over it, she realised it was the trunk of a tree. And hanging upside down from that tree was....   
"Get me down!" squealed Ruin.   
Andtalathiel couldn't help laughing. "How on earth did you get like that?"   
"Just get me down before I die from all this blood rushing to my head!!!" screeched Ruin, arms flailing.   
But before Andtalathiel could move, she saw something that made her freeze with terror...   
Ruin's already wide eyes widened. It had a plump, furry body, a small head, with large teeth and all eight great eyes staring at Andtalathiel. Eight spiky legs grew from it, and two reached down towards Andtalathiel, who was rooted to the ground. Ruin flung out her dagger, and cut the sticky web which bound her to the tree. She landed with a Flump!on the leafy ground, and scuttled behind the spider, nearing Andtalathiel.   
Ruin groped down on the ground, and felt a rock.   
"Oi, you vile thing! Take this, Attercop!" she cried, and with all her might-ACHOO!the stone flew the exact wrong direction and hit Andtalathiel Smack!on the head. She fell like a tree chopped down, face first in the leaves.   
The spider, even though it did not see Ruin, certainly heard her high voice yelling "Attercop!" and turned abruptly around, with speed amazing in such a bloated creature. Ruin wasted no time in scrambling behind the tree, and picked up her dagger.   
The spider scuttled up to the tree, and thrust its small head, with the huge fangs, right up to Ruin. She shut her eyes and plunged the shining dagger straight into the monster's brain. It screeched terribly, earshatteringly, and blood spurted from the head. Ruin opened her eyes and ran, straight to Andtalathiel, and heaping her over her shoulder, ran like fire out of the forest. She collapsed panting in a small meadow.   
Andtalathiel's eyes fluttered open, and her brown eyes shrunk in terror.   
"No! Go away!"   
Ruin held her down, as Andtalathiel screamed and tried to get away. Slowly she calmed down, and was calm. She had a nasty bump on her head, and all their supplies were lost, but they could not sleep here. They continued on their way, but the land was strange and dark.   
Ruin took out her map and studied their route.   
"What path did we take from Weather Top," she asked, her nose in the map.   
"The south one, why?"   
Ruin thrust the map up to Andtalathiel's nose. "We took the wrong way! Look, here's the east road! That's the one we were supposed to take."   
"So , where are we?" asked Andtalathiel, flopping down on the ground, exhausted.   
"Lost." came Ruin's muffled answer, as she went to sleep.   
* * *   
When she woke again it was not yet daytime. The sky was black and no stars shone. The moon was hidden behind a wisp of thin cloud. Ruin shivered and curled up into a ball, gazing around at the shadows that looked really to envelop them at any moment.   
Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, and jumped.   
"Hey, hey! Its only me," said Andtalathiel soothingly, as Ruin spun around feircely. "I saw that you'd woken up, and I thought I'd come over to you."   
"Oh...okay," said Ruin slowly, still calming down from her sudden panic. "Did you get a good sleep?"   
"Not really, no," said Andtalathiel softly. She rose to her feet, feeling the cold dew on the grass between her toes. "What is this place? I never knew of it. Is it not on the map?"   
Ruin unfolded their map and squinted at it. "No," she said after a while. "South of Weather Top, the land is not labelled. Its just a big, empty space. With a forest drawn on it," she added. "That must be the forest we were just in. I wonder what it is called?"   
Andtalathiel did not reply, but stared into the distance. Being part-elven her eyes could see pretty far, and she thought she could make out something moving in the distance, though she wasn't sure what it was.   
"There's something not right about all this," she whispered. "I just wish I knew what it was..."   
They fell asleep again, Ruin coughing and sneezing. Andtalathiel regretted not having even a single blanket, and no hope of any breakfast in the morning. Unable to sleep still, she lit a fire, and scooted Ruin near it. Then she pored carefully over the map. They were near the river Grayflood, about a hundred miles east of the Brandywine. If they followed the river up north, they should reach Imladris, but hopes of getting there in time were dim, if not invisible.   
They had gotten the summons at Bree, saying little except to go to Rivendell, where a council awaited. Why they should be needed for this council was beyond Andtalathiel's reasoning. Ruin didn't care, she was usually focused on the present. Andtalathiel looked mostly to the future and to the past, after the manner of the elves, while Ruin was more hobbitish.   
Ruin coughed hackingly, and shivered. Andtalathiel peered long at her, still worried. They were many, many miles from anywhere safe, and if Ruin should get worse-   
Suddenly she straightened up. A long howl broke the sky, followed by yips and growls.   
Wargs.   
Quickly she shook Ruin awake. Ruin's blue eyes widened, and almost yelped at the sound of the howling. They made for cover, and darted up into a large tree, clutching the branches in sweaty hands. The wargs sniffed out their trail almost instantly, and the leader of them, a black, bristling creature with red eyes and foaming at the mouth, laughed.   
"Two birds in a tree! We have you!" they laughed.   
"Oi, not yet you don't, and don't get your hopes up for the future!" cried Ruin, plucking a pinecone off the tree. Though she had no magic to set it aflame, she threw it hard and fast, and it hit the leader on the nose. He lept, and his jaws snapped an inch from Ruin's toes. She pulled up her feet and gathered more pinecones, and some rocks out of her pocket. These she threw at them, hitting many in the eyes or the nose, and some fell down when she hit them on the head, but there were more than enough wargs left, and no more pinecones. Now they were trapped indeed.   
"Now what do we do?!" wailed Andtalathiel miserably. Ruin looked around desperately for something else to throw at the wargs. There was nothing, except the very leaves of the tree, and they would not do much damage. It seemed there was really nothing else to do except sit there and pray that the wargs might leave, if they stayed there long enough.   
"But," cried Andtalathiel, reading Ruin's mind, "we can't just stay up here! We have no food, no drink, and - " she gasped. "The map!!"   
They had left it by the fire. It was fluttering softly in the gentle breeze. Suddenly a strong gust of wind carried it away, and it vanished from sight.   
Andtalathiel howled. "Now we won't even know where to go, if we ever get down from here!!"   
Ruin had to agree that things were looking pretty bad for them. But suddenly she saw something that made her heart leap.   
"Andtalathiel," she said quickly. "The tree next to us is growing conkers, and they looked fine big ones, too. You're nearest to it - do you think you could...?"   
She didn't even have to finish her sentance. Springing suddenly into action, Andtalathiel aimed her jump and leapt from their tree into the branches of the next. Spluttering with a mouth full of leaves, she groped around for some conkers. When she had collected a fair few, she sprang back into the first tree where Ruin was waiting.   
"Here," she croaked, still spitting out bits of dry leaves. She handed a few conkers to Ruin, and kept some for herself.   
"Oi! You! Yes, you, the ugly one!" called Ruin mockingly. The wargs all looked up at them.   
Fatal mistake. They were instantly pelted with thousands of large, hard conkers.   
They were stiff and tired from being in the tree. They still threw down conkers, but they were getting low and only tossed hem occasionally. Suddenly, without any warning the sun flared high in the sky, hidden behind the trees until now. The wargs scattered, weak in the sunlight.   
"ACHOO!" sneezed Ruin, and fell out of the tree. Andtalathiel got down in a more practical manner, graceful after the elves.   
They made all haste northeast. Ruin remembered a portion of the map, and she hoped that they would perhaps reach where Greyflood split. They had only to follow the river, she said, and they would get to Imladris.   
Ruin did not say what she really thought, it was not what she did. No matter what, keep a good side out and don't let the world see your worry. Worry bred worry, and soon everyone was so worried they forgot what they were supposed to be trying to do.   
They kept on, with a relentless fate. Neither voiced their true opinion.   
Ruin, indeed, was the least worried. Andtalathiel was wiser and older, and knew more of the risk.   
She was also very upset over Ruin's cold. It was not getting better.   
Finally they reached the splitting of Greyflood, and they continued. Forest thinned out, and spread into sweet smelling grass and fields of flowers. Ruin felt better, a little anyway, and it was not so bitterly cold. At nights they huddled next to the fire, and though the sound haunted their dreams, they heard no wargs. 

It seemed like years before they finally arrived in Rivendell. The valley smelt sweet and fresh, that very unique "Elvish" smell. Andtalathiel and Ruin were so glad to arrive there that they ran inside, their eyes bright and their faces flushed from the autumn wind. They were welcomed and given rooms for the night, and slept more soundly than they had in weeks.   
They were so pleased at their arrival that they forgot why they had come. They had, of course, been summoned to the council, though why was beyond them. They remembered what they had to do when the sun rose the next day, and they were informed that they were to be attending the council that afternoon. They spent the morning guessing bizarre reasons as to why they had been summoned.   
They felt less like joking around, however, when the afternoon came. Ruin was _still_ unwell, and they were beginning to worry about just what it was they were going to have to do...   
* * *   
It was time for the council. Dressed in clean garments, they waited impatiently as the Elves talked of dark and shadow and used words Ruin did not understand, even though Andtalathiel was listening. Ruin wished she would tell her what was going on, because she was tired, they were speaking in elvish, which she was not very learned in, and she had a runny nose. She sneezed suddenly, jumping out of her seat.   
All eyes turned towards her, and Elladan whispered something to Elrohir, who looked grave and nodded.   
"We have decided." They announced. "Time is late, and all haste must be made for Andtalathiel's journey to Mordor."   
"Mordor? Why in Arda would we want to go to Mordor?" piped up Ruin.   
"Andtalathiel has agreed to spy out 'dangerous activity' therein." said Elrohir.   
"No one asked me anything about it - " said Ruin, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.   
"You are staying here." Elladan said calmly.   
"No I'm not! If my friend and cousin is going, do you think I'm going to be a step behind her? Why, you'd have to tie me up in a bag and ship me across the sea to stop me!" cried Ruin, eyes wide with shock. "I can't stay!"   
"You have to. You are still sick, and you would hinder her greatly."   
"No I'm no - " she cried, and then broke out into rib-racking coughs.   
"I'm sorry, Ruin." said Andtalathiel. "I have to, and you can't come, you'll get worse, and maybe even d - "   
"No I won't! I feel perfectly fine-ACHOO!" and she jumped up again.   
"Ruin…"   
But Ruin wasn't listening, she was coughing and sneezing and couldn't stop. Her face was red, and her fiery hair was standing almost directly up. "I…gotta…come…" she coughed, before a strong elf picked her up and took her inside. They gave her some Miruvir to calm her, and put her to sleep, and soon she was snoring softly, buried in silken elf blankets.   
Andtalathiel packed quickly, knowing that if Ruin awoke she would have no chance to get away. She took off soon, and planned to get to the Mountains in a week.   
* * *   
Leaving Rivendell without Ruin was incredibley hard for Andtalathiel. It just felt wrong, walking along the path without Ruin bouncing around by her side climbing trees, making jokes and mucking around. It felt lonely. Sighing, Andtalathiel picked up the pace a bit. Maybe it she distracted herself by thinking of the job she had to do, it would take her mind off how much she was missing her cousin.   
Far away, on the horizon, she saw the mountains looming up. She hoped that she wouldn't have to pass over them, but instead go around them. She knew of the dangers that lurked in the depths of those mountains. Shivering, she wrapped her cloak around her tighter and strode onwards, her head bowed.   
It wasn't long before she was walking through thin forest. The daylight was fading slowly, and she was enjoying her journey less and less with every minute that went by. Being in a sort of forest at nightfall kept reminding her of Ruin and the giant spider, making her feel worse than ever.   
Suddenly, she saw a light up ahead. She hesitated, wondering what to do. Should she approach it, or try to work her way around it? Slowly and silently, she crept closer towards the flickering light, knowing she must be very careful not to get herself into any more trouble. After all, Ruin was not here to save her now.   
* * *   
Ruin awoke in a blur, coughing. She was sweaty and cold.   
Now she remembered. Of course, Andtalathiel had gone away, and Ruin had to go find her. But not till she was better.   
"I feel better…" she said.   
Out of common hobbit sense she waited a day though. In the glory of Imladris she healed almost instantly. During that time she plotted, and stole, and arranged for her journey. She took some Lembas, many packets, and a bottle or two of Miruver. And when all was done, her cloak and clothes packed, and a new map stolen (borrowed, as she put it, after all, she was coming back.) she sneaked out at nighttime. Quickly she darted into some shrubbery, and was soon on her way. She walked hard and far that night, up until noon, and then she rested and slept. She was in a sparse forest, and she slept the rest of the day, until she was awoken by a scream of terror. There was a fire ahead, and she could make out in the dim light, two trolls, and Andtalathiel? Quickly she darted up in a tree, but not before loading her pockets with rocks.   
* * *   
Andtalathiel had, completely unintentionally, got herself into one hell of a load of trouble.   
She'd been very careful approaching the fire, and she was pretty sure that whoever was seated around it hadn't heard her creep up toward them. After all, Andtalathiel was very light-footed, after the elves. As she drew near, she saw exactly who it was sitting by the fire.   
It was two hideous, monstrous trolls.   
Andtalathiel put a hand to her mouth to stifle her gasp. She really hadn't expected trolls. Slowly she started backing away, but suddenly she stepped on a dry twig, and it snapped. The trolls instantly leapt up and looked around them, mumbling to each other in low grunts about spies and thieves. Andtalathiel held her breath and took another careful step backwards. But before she was safely out of their sight, they spotted her.   
"Ere, look! Its a little elfish...hobbitish...thing!" declared the first troll, scratching at its head. "What's it doin'?"   
"Spyin', no doubt," grunted the other troll, glaring at Andtalathiel. It thundered over to her and poked her in the stomach with one thick, stubby grey finger. "Ere, you! Hobbity-elfy-whatever-you-are! What dya think your doin'?"   
"I'm, um, just passing through the woods," stammered Andtalathiel, racking her brain for a good excuse. "I'm just....a harmless traveller."   
"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" snorted the second troll, still giving Andtalathiel a stony glare. "Hobbits and elves, they both sneak around causing havoc and gettin' in the way. Ere, what exactly ARE you, hobbity-elfy-thing?"   
"I'm...I'm half-elf, half-hobbit," said Andtalathiel. There seemed no harm in the truth there. "But please, I'm not doing any harm. I think I'll just be going, now."   
"Oh, no you won't!" laughed the first troll. "We're hungry, and you look like a nice change from the sorta rubbish we've had to put up with these past few days."   
Andtalathiel gave a little squeal. The trolls laughed at her cruelly, and attempted to tie her up. But Andtalathiel decided that she wasn't going to give in without a fight.   
"You are NOT going to eat me," she declared, sounding somewhat braver than she felt. She wriggled out of the ropes they had tied her with. "Anyway, I wouldn't taste good."   
The trolls simply laughed again and moved in on her. Desperately Andtalathiel looked around for any way of escape, anyone to help her. But there was no-one. Or so she thought....   
* * *   
Ruin contained a gasp, and then a laugh, as she saw Andtalathiel facing up to the trolls. Andtalathiel looked so funny trying to look brave.   
Ruin settled her mind quickly on what to do, of course. She watched as the trolls finally grabbed Andtalathiel's hair, and pulled her down. They quickly bound her.   
The trolls were tired, and lay back a bit, watching Andtalathiel struggle vainly. They were in no hurry to eat her, and they shut their eyes, lightly at first, then heavy, and soon were snoring snores to uproot mountains. Ruin waited. It was just the beginning of the night, and for what she needed to do she had to wait.   
It was around midnight, that the first troll started to wake a little. Ruin threw a large rock, and it hit him. He woke up completely, and glared at his friend.   
"Ah, so 'at's your game, is it? Murder me in mah sleep, naw nice 'o ya." He said, thinking that the other hit him. "Well, take yer own back 'an more, why dontcha?" and he smacked the other hard.   
The other one awoke with a grunt. "Why'd ya do 'at?" he growled.   
"Givin' ya back yer own, and more as ya deserve it."   
"Is 'at so?"   
"At's so, an' I'd thankee nar ta do it agin."   
The second troll was in a rage by now, and smote the first so hard he was flung into a tree. The first flew back, and taking a huge boulder the size of Ruin, flung it at the other. They battled far into the night, and did not notice that there was a golden line appearing over the mountain ridge.   
To ease the fight along, Ruin threw down more rocks, and enraged them further. At one point she nearly got Andtalathiel trampled, but they turned and fought more.   
"Ya were gonna kill me, and take me dinner, wernt ya?"   
"Nah, I was a gonna eat yah first!"was the reply, and so they argued and fought.   
Finally, the first one lay dead, his skull crushed by a monstrous rock the other had thrown at him. The second one leaned menacingly over Andtalathiel, a wicked dagger in his hand.   
"Ar, I be 'ungry after me tussle. Ah would go fer a light snack 'bout n-"and he froze, just as the dagger touched Andtalathiel. The Sun had Risen.   
Ruin this time did not fall out of the tree, but actually managed to get her way down, and free Andtalathiel.   
"Why aren't you at Rivendell?" insisted Andtalathiel.   
"I got better." said Ruin.   
"Does anyone know you are gone?"   
"By now I should hope so." replied Ruin, struggling with a smile.   
"How did you find me?"   
"Tracked you."   
"Well, are you going to give me any response longer than six syllables?"   
"Ishkabibiltitwitel."   
"What?"   
"Count it."   
"Oh you rogue!"   
Andtalathiel promptly chased Ruin up a tree, where Ruin threw acorns at her and laughed.   
* * *   
"So you're planning to go around the mountains, rather than over them?" asked Ruin.   
Andtalathiel nodded. "I don't trust the mountains. Old as the very earth, and dark things lurk in them such as I would never want to meet."   
Ruin nodded. She knew that goblins hid in the mountains, of course, and Orcs. Something in Andtalathiel's voice made her wonder if there was something else, though, something truly terrible that Andtalathiel was not speaking of.   
"The Elves warned me not to go over - or under - the mountains," explained Andtalathiel, guessing what Ruin was thinking. "They spoke of a demon that now dwells there, a Balrog, they said. They advised that I went around the mountains, despite the fact that it would take far longer."   
"A Balrog," exclaimed Ruin, raising her eyebrows. "Gosh."   
They walked long into the night, and only took a couple of hours rest. Since they did have such a long way to go, there was no sense in wasting time by ambling along and taking long sleeps. Ruin was much recovered from her cold, and the both of them travelled fast and had quite a good time at first. Their more hobbitish side came out, and they climbed many trees and explored many places. They were really rather enjoying themselves, having a laugh. But every step they took was bringing them closer to Mordor, and gradually they found it harder and harder to be cheerful.   
Ruin trudged on. She was bored, and she got more so every minute, doing the same thing day after day, eating the same thing, and just walking forever. She picked up an acorn and tossed it in the air. Then she kicked a rock a little ways, until it fell down a hole. Balrog smalrog, let's take the shortcut, she thought. We can handle ourselves.   
"Andtalathiel," she said, trying to sound nonchalant, "Just how do they know there is a Balrog?"   
"Elrohir said he has heard reports of a terror, and the only thing he could think of was a Balrog. It's best to be careful, we don't do them much good if we are dead."   
"We do them less good if we don't even arrive in Mordor…"whispered Ruin, but Andtalathiel had elf hearing and caught the remark.   
"So you want to go through there, regardless of what wiser have warned?"   
"Yes." replied Ruin sullenly. She had been feeling slightly put out with Andtalathiel for not trying harder to take Ruin along.   
"Well." replied Andtalathiel, turning with her hands on her hips. "Who's the leader? Let's not forget that you are a tagalong, not even originally included in this little venture."   
Ruin's eyes widened in shock, and she turned around. Nothing could wound her more deeply than a friend.   
Andtalathiel was instantly sorry, of course, but she was a bit tired of Ruin's over perkiness. She turned back around, and said calmly, "Well, come along! We don't have enough time, we were delayed long enough by your falling sick on the way to Rivendell."   
Ruin walked on, but she had her head lowered, and she walked slowly, and didn't talk or eat much that night, just curled up to keep warm and fell asleep.   
Andtalathiel watched her, and felt just mean. Ruin was a pain, but she had done much that warranted gratitude, and Andtalathiel resolved she would be nicer in the morning.   
* * *   
When Andtalathiel woke, Ruin was eating breakfast by a roaring fire. Andtalathiel propped herself up on her elbows and watched as Ruin ate slowly, a solemn expression on her face. She didn't even seem to be aware of what she was eating. Andtalathiel sighed. Be nice, she told herself sternly.   
"Good morning," she said. "What's that you're eating?"   
"Food," snapped Ruin.   
So she wasn't ready to make friends. Andtalathiel sighed again. She wanted to be nice to Ruin, and make her happy again. She really did. But, somehow she felt slightly resentful. Why should it be that Ruin should always be the superhero, the one who swooped in and saved her, while she always seemed to end up the one needing rescuing? It was very hard to give gratitude where perhaps it was needed, when she felt she as the leader should have been playing perhaps a slightly more dominant role, rather than that of a whimpering damsel in distress. Still, Andtalathiel had never shown resentfulness to those she cared about before, and she didn't plan to start now. She took a deep breath, then tried again.   
"Ruin, I've been thinking," she started.   
Ruin looked up at her suspiciously.   
"Perhaps, it would be better to go through the mountains," Andtalathiel said. As soon as she'd said it, she wished that she hadn't. She didn't know what had come over her. It was the desire to make Ruin smile once more that have made her say it, but it was a foolish thing to do all the same. She had been warned of the danger. It was practically suicide.   
"Really?" asked Ruin, eyes widening. "You don't mind?"   
"No," lied Andtalathiel, forcing herself to smile. "I think perhaps your right, it will be quicker and easier. So, how about it?"   
"Yes!" exclaimed Ruin, instantly brightening.   
They found the old entrance to Moria. The lake was gone, and the watcher too, and though the rocks around the entrance were broken and piled, there was an entrance just high enough for Andtalathiel to get in. Ruin moved quickly, being the smaller and younger of the two. Andtalathiel was wiser and felt the need for caution. Ruin got the idea after she almost tumbled into a huge crack running across the floor, at least ten feet wide. Andtalathiel jumped it easily, with the grace of an elf, but Ruin trembled on the other side.   
"Ruin, jump, we haven't got all day." said Andtalathiel, not unkindly.   
Run shut her eyes. "Andtalathiel, there is one thing I am scared of."   
"Um…why are you bringing it up now? I know Elrohir can be a little harsh, but-"   
"I'm not afraid of Elrohir…"   
"Er, then what?" replied Andtalathiel, who had seen her cousin pick up disgusting bugs, kill a giant spider, and cause the death of two trolls. What was there to be scared of after that?   
"Heights!" squeaked Ruin, trembling and backing up.   
"Oh, fiddlesticks! It's easy, you just jump!"   
"No."   
"What?"   
"I won't."   
"Why not?"   
"I can't."   
"Yes you can."   
"No no no…"   
"Yes! We didn't come all the way here to be stopped by a hole in the ground!" yelled Andtalathiel, her patience stretched to breaking point.   
"Andtalathiel I can't…"   
"Fine, go back! Aren't you the one that ran away just so you could tag along and have your way? And now you've got it and you don't want it. That suits me fine. Go back to Imladris, and tell them how you were too little and weak to jump a measly HOLE!" Andtalathiel yelled. She, of course, did not mean this, it was the only way Ruin could ever jump that, but it tore at Andtalathiel to see her cousin's reaction.   
Ruin's eyes widened in shock again. Twice she had been rebuked by the cousin whose life she had saved! She wiped away a tear and clenched her teeth. She had to do it. She was not Weak or Little. Clenching her fists, she ran at the hole, shut her eyes, and flew over it, landing on her knees on the other side.   
Andtalathiel offered her hand to Ruin.   
"Good job. Come along now, I'll help you get up."   
Ruin glared at her. Her dark blue eyes were full of resentment. "I can get myself up, Elf." she said, and stood up. Her fists were clenched still as she walked on.   
"Ruin-" murmured Andtalathiel, "You know what I said was only to get you over that hole…"   
Ruin did not answer, but turned her head away and trudged on. None of her friends yelled at her a lot, so when one did, it hurt more than anything did.   
Andtalathiel knew her cousin was heartbroken, and it nearly broke her own heart to see that. She felt torn. One half of her wanted to run up to Ruin and put her arms around her and hold her close, and tell her that she didn't care if Ruin was scared of heights, because she was her cousin and she was brave and she loved her dearly. The other half wanted to shout at her for being so obstinate, and for not realising that Andtalathiel didn't want to keep having her life saved like she was a defenceless baby. In the end, neither side won the battle. The neautral Andtalathiel told her the best thing to do was just follow and say nothing, so that was what she did.   
Moria was darker and fouler than Andtalathiel had ever imagined. Since she and Ruin weren't talking, she occupied herself by taking in her surroundings. Dwarf skeletons littered the floors, all of them pierced with many arrows and still wearing armour. Andtalathiel shuddered. Why had she ever agreed to come here?   
Ruin was up ahead, walking silently. Andtalathiel wished she could think of something to say to her, that would sum up all her feelings and emotions. But for once, she was lost for words.   
Ruin wasn't feeling much. Her head hurt, she was tired, and they just kept walking and walking. Andtalathiel probably didn't mean any of it. And even if she did, Ruin deserved it. She had tagged along, and she wasn't strong or anything. It was mostly luck, not talent.   
But Andtalathiel didn't have to say those things. Didn't she care? She was scared of something too, everyone was. Why did she grudge Ruin for being scared? Ruin's head hurt worse the more she thought. She just wanted her friend back. Yet still there was a part that said, Andtalathiel went too far, said too much. Don't forget. Make her give in first. But Ruin, although not wise, had sense, common hobbit sense. Andtalathiel was already sorry.   
Ruin tried walking over to her.   
Andtalathiel took one look at Ruin and turned the other way. Truly, Andtalathiel was fed up with being rescued, when the rest of the time she was supposed to be the adult, mature one. She just couldn't bear to see Ruin's face now, either sad or angry it hurt.   
Ruin was confused. Why did Andtalathiel hate her? It never dawned on her that she might be too much of a rescuer. If anything, she assumed it was because Andtalathiel thought she was a baby, a spoiled child tagging along. Well, she wasn't. She didn't want to see Andtalathiel right now either.   
She got up, and aimlessly wandered down a broken tunnel. She reached a crumbled hall, with great pillars, and sat down and fell asleep.   
A hour crept by, and Andtalathiel got up. They had already wasted time, and she looked around for Ruin.   
Ruin awoke to the feeling of a claw on her back. She jerked awake, panting heavily. A troop of Orcs surrounded her, and a large ugly on was picking her up.   
"Put me down!" she squeaked, but the orc just tugged her hair. Ruin cried out in pain, and the orc held her at eye level.   
"Elf, is it?" said one, and the one holding Ruin shook his head.   
"No. Something else. But I doubt there is only one."   
He cast Ruin on the ground, and she landed in a heap.   
"You stay here and watch her." He told a huge, scaly black one. "The rest come with me. Let's find her friends."   
* * *   
"Ruin?" called Andtalathiel nervously. Oh, fantastic, she thought to herself. She's run away. Doesn't she realise just how dangerous it is in here?   
"Ruin, come out, I know you're just hiding," snapped Andtalathiel. "I'm not in the mood for your jokes right now."   
But there was silence. No reply.   
"Ruin," whispered Andtalathiel, suddenly scared. "Ruin, where are you?" A thousand thoughts rushed through her head, a thousand images of Ruin, and in each one she was suffering a different horrific death. What had happened to her? Where had she gone? Why, oh why had Andtalathiel been so nasty to her?   
"Ruin," repeated Andtalathiel again, as though saying her name enough times would bring her back. She stood there, heart pounding. Get a grip on yourself, she told herself firmly. Nothing will have happened to her, she probably is just playing a trick. Now get out there and look for her like a responsible friend and cousin.   
Slowly she started back down the passage they had been walking along. She hadn't gone far when she saw another passage, branching off the first. It was broken and crumbling, but there was a possibility that Ruin was down there, so Andtalathiel took that path, praying that she would soon find Ruin alive and well.   
As she walked along, she couldn't stop herself from thinking of awful things that might have happened. Ruin had probably gone away, because Andtalathiel had hurt her, and had maybe found herself facing another hole to jump over, and had fallen? No, no, don't think like that, Andtalathiel told herself firmly. She'll be safe, just you wait and see.   
The passage ended, and Andtalathiel stepped out in a massive hall lined with pillars. She gasped, though not at the magnificence of the hall. There, tied to a pillar, looking miserable and despairing, was Ruin herself.   
"Ru - !" squeaked Andtalathiel, before clapping a hand over her mouth. Guarding Ruin was a sleeping Orc, fully armed and very dangerous looking. Something told Andtalathiel that yelling out Ruin's name and waking it would not be a good idea.   
But she definately wasn't turning back, not now she'd found her best friend. She carefully tiptoed forward, making no sound. Ruin didn't seem to notice she was being approached. She had stirred slightly at the sound of Andtalathiel's squeak, but she, like the Orc, seemed to be asleep. Either that, or she was so tired and miserable she had given up hope of trying to get away.   
Finally Andtalathiel reached her, and put a hand on her shoulder to rouse her. "Ruin," she whispered, so silently that she was practically mouthing it. Ruin stirred again, then raised her head and her blue eyes fluttered open.   
"Tally!" she squealed in a voice mingled with joy and relief. She had been a little too loud, however. The Orc moved slightly in its sleep and made a soft grunting sound. Andtalathiel signalled to Ruin to be quiet, but she freed her straight away.   
"You found me," whispered Ruin, very quietly. Andtalathiel nodded with a smile. For now, it seemed that the arguement was forgotten, and she was glad. But they were still not safe. She finished undoing the knots in the ropes Ruin had been tied up with, and the two of them began to creep across the hall back to the passage.   
But suddenly, all their hopes of getting away without facing any of the Orcs were broken.   
"Hey! They're getting away!!! _They're getting away!!!_"   
They had been spotted.   
The largest orc stepped up towards them, feeling more than confident that he could recapture two little elves.   
"Go back, and hunt for more!" he growled at the others, who went.   
Andtalathiel had no idea what to do. Ruin was nearly asleep on her feet, too exhausted to fight. Wasn't this what you wanted, though? she thought. Now you can show everyone you can fight…   
But how?   
"Tal…left pocket…throw it!" whispered Ruin weakly, before collapsing on the floor, too tired to even stand.   
Andtalathiel reached into Ruin's left pocket, and pulled out Ruin's little dagger. Instantly she knew what Ruin had said.   
The huge orc approached them.   
"Give in without a fight, and we may let you live." He growled.   
Andtalathiel waited a minute, then with the instinct of a hobbit let the dagger fly.   
It flew straight and true, plunging itself into the heart of the orc. His blood poured from the wound.   
Far off, as it seemed, was his last agonizing screech…the other orcs approaching…only Ruin and herself were real, and what she had just done...she had killed.   
"Get the dagger!" gasped Ruin.   
Andtalathiel did not feel at all like walking up and plucking it out of the orc, but it was their only weapon. So she did, and a feeling swept over her of horror. She had never killed anything, and the feeling made her want to wretch. But she didn't. She tugged out the dagger, the gorgeous mithril covered blade now red, as though the engraved dragon had breathed flame over it. She dashed back to Ruin, and somehow lifted her, and ran.   
She ran and ran, making no sense of direction, just so long as she got away from what she had done, what had happened, and she found herself outside, in the warm sunshine. But she did not stop, just kept on running, until finally she fell down in a meadow and retched.   
Ruin looked up.   
"I'm sorry…I would have done it if I could have…but there was no way."   
Andtalathiel looked at her, and all the argument was forgotten.   
"Do you ever forget what it's like, to have killed?"   
"I don't know. I know you never get used to it, even if it may be right, or the only way. But that's a good thing. It's probably one of the few things that separates us from them. They were once elves, but he twisted them, and made them to love terrible things."   
"He would have killed us then? With no regret or pity at all?"   
"Yes. Pity, mercy…don't forget them. Don't kill unless that's the only way. Even then everyone feels remorse, or ought to. Evil was not always." said Ruin.   
Andtalathiel gazed with amazement at her cousin. This could not be Ruin, who never spoke seriously, never even spoke of death, and always made a light thing of it when it happened. She remembered the night that Ruin killed the spider, and how she didn't want to talk about it.   
"I never thought…"she whispered, "I didn't know…you were shielding me?"   
"Slightly." said Ruin sleepily. "It's a terrible feeling, and I didn't want you to have it. It would hurt you even more, I thought."   
Andtalathiel saw how tired Ruin was. Too tired to tell anything but the raw truth. It was a hard day, so they crept under cover and slept.   
Ruin woke up in the middle of the night, knowing she'd forgotten something. Of course, the dagger! Silently rebuking herself for not remembering, she went to get it. Blades needed washing, or they rusted or got gross. She found it, once again in her pack. Blood was still on it.   
She crept into the meadow, and wiped it clean with dewy grass.   
Andtalathiel awoke and saw her. She wondered what Ruin was doing, out in the meadow, holding the dagger. She walked to her.   
"What are you doing?" she whispered.   
"Cleaning it. It has to be made clean or it will rust, and be no use."   
Andtalathiel thought about this for a long time afterwards.   
* * *   
"Ruin?" whispered Andtalathiel. It was night, and they were lying in a field surrounded by thin forest, staring up at the starry sky. Ruin rolled over onto her side so she could look at Andtalathiel.   
"Mmm?" she replied.   
"I'm sorry I made you feel stupid about being scared of heights," Andtalathiel said softly, not turning to look at Ruin, but continuing to stare up at the sky. "It was wrong. I just knew that I had to say something like that, to get you over the hole. Also...." she took a deep breath. "I was fed up of being rescued. It made me feel like a baby. I'm sorry...I know I should have been showing gratitude."   
Ruin was speechless.   
"I just found it hard to show, that I knew how much I owed you. I guess I just never realised that you were protecting me from that horrible feeling. The feeling you get when you first kill," said Andtalathiel, her voice beginning to crack as her eyes filled with tears.   
"Tally..." said Ruin softly, trying to think of something comforting to say.   
"Its okay, its okay. I understand now. I just wish I hadn't been so horrible to you about your being scared. You're right, its not as though I never get scared too. I was scared, in Moria," said Andtalathiel quietly. "I was scared I was going to lose my best friend..."   
* * *   
They continued the next day. Ruin was back to her old self, running and jumping and climbing and falling into things. Lately those "things" were briar patches and creeks.   
"Ouch." She remarked, trying to struggle out of one of the former.   
Andtalathiel retained a chuckle. Ruin was well over whatever had troubled her. Andtalathiel was better, but the feeling did not leave her. She remembered Ruin, saying never to get used to it. The feelings were good that followed, even if they hurt.   
After about a month, they had reached the edges of Eryn Lasgalen, or what was Mirkwood, and they turned, reaching the Dead Marshes quickly. Neither could hide their disgust at what they saw, and they quickly hurried through. They crept close to the black mountains that made up the north side of Mordor. They intended to creep in the back, where there were no mountains, and it was harder to guard or indeed even get to.   
Evil was indeed abroad in Mordor. It seemed as though, enduring ages of shadow, the land itself had been tainted too deeply for any elf-power. Nothing grew save weeds with thorns, the sky was dark, with a red sun when it had any, and the flies were horrible creatures with red eyes. Every once in a while they would hear, far off, the sounds of an orc troop, and once a stray orc had seen them. Ruin had grabbed it, it was a little one, and pressed it with her dagger.   
"Tell us, who commands these dark hoards?" she said harshly.   
The creature squeaked and struggled, but finally gasped out, "He does!"   
"Who?" asked Ruin, bewildered and her grip on the orc loosened. Sensing this the creature darted away from her, retreating into a dark hole.   
Ruin was sorry for that, it would probably tell someone. They made haste to the end of the mountains.   
  
"Whats the plan?" asked Ruin once as they crept around some jagged black rocks, in the heat of the flaring red sun.   
"Plan?" muttered Andtalathiel. "I don't really have one."   
"No plan?" repeated Ruin blankly. "But...what are we going to do, just creep around here waiting to be caught?"   
"No," replied Andtalathiel. She grinned at Ruin. "We're going to spy."   
They stopped as a foul cry rang out through the air. It sounded like orcs. Exchanging glances, they dropped to their knees, hidden behind a large rock. The cry pierced the air again, making Ruin shudder. Andtalathiel was peering slowly around the edge of the boulder.   
"Is there anything nearby?" asked Ruin in a whisper.   
Andtalathiel looked into the distance, glad of her sharp elvish eyesight. "I'm not sure...I think I see something moving on the horizon. A squirming black mass...it can only be Orcs."   
They got up and started going back the way they came; there was a clump of large jagged rocks there that might prove to be a good hiding place. It was one thing dealing with one small, stray orc, but an army of them would definately be trouble.   
Ruin peeped over the rock as they passed, and got a good look before pulled down by Andtalathiel.   
"Thill!" she hissed, not saying the s in still. S is the easiest sound to hear in a whisper.   
Ruin would not though, and pulling her hood over her head to hide her hair, she peered again. She could never see as well as the elves, and had poor eyesight even among hobbits, but she amply made up for that in other ways, resorting to smell, sound and taste, even though she at close range was quick eyed.   
The orcs were rampaging through, marching in a undisciplined way to the crack of a black whip, singing and then making a sound as though a mountain cracked and fell, and fall it did, on the back of the unfortunate orc lagging.   
"Ai, get along with you! Slugs, white worms! There's more where this comes, plenty for all if you don't start moving!" growled their leader. A pale, weasly orc spoke up, and Ruin recognized it as the one she had caught.   
"I'd like to see what a troll like you can do about us lagging…"   
SWISH!his head fell to the ground, blood staining the dust. The leader waved his black, dripping sword.   
"Same to the rest of you, if you don't do as I say!" he shouted, kicking the dead body beside him. The rest marched on, faster than before.   
Andtalathiel tugged Ruin down.   
"What were you doing?" she hissed, "You could have been spotted! It's enough that one orc knows that we're here!"   
"He can't tell anyone."   
"What?"   
"Look." said Ruin, and pointed to where the orcs had roughly slung the corpse. "He's dead, the leader killed him. As long as he told no one, we're fine."   
"Why wouldn't he tell?"   
"They aren't loyal creatures. Orcs don't care for their cause, only for their own well being, and he would gain nothing in telling. He would probably even be reprimanded for being foolish enough to be caught. I want to have a look at him, he might have something useful."   
Ruin crept down, and searched him. She found a dagger, and a sword like that of the leaders, but shorter and less well made. Taking these, his helmet, and the bulky armor, she felt suddenly richer.   
"Oi, Tally, come over here." she said. "His stuff's slightly big for me, he was tall and thin for an orc, but it might fit you."   
"Orc armor? Whatever for?"   
"In case we meet with danger. Here, his sword, and his dagger…"   
"I look terrible."   
"We're in Mordor, Tally, everything looks terrible."   
"But what will you use?"   
"I've got my little dagger, haven't I? And this place is full of rocks, sharp too." replied Ruin.   
"But armor, Ruin!"   
"I'll find some. There are sure to be many more corpses after this one."   
"We might as well follow them, they are sure to be going nowhere good with a troop of orcs." said Andtalathiel.   
"Yes, good thought. Let's go, and if it gets to hot tell me. We can throw some things away."   
Off they went.   
The sun blazed high above them, not the soft gentle golden sun like the one that beamed down on them in Rivendell, or the bright cheerful summer sun that was always above them in the Shire. This sun was scorching, and dry, and burned a dark, fiery red in colour. Andtalathiel was soon lagging behind.   
"What is it?" asked Ruin, never taking her eyes off the distant mass of orcs.   
"Hot," panted Andtalathiel, dropping to her knees on the hard, dusty ground.   
Ruin sighed heavily. "Fine. Take the armour off. But for safety's sake keep the sword and the dagger, you'll need a weapon in these parts. Nowhere is safe."   
They continued, moving a lot faster now Andtalathiel wasn't hot or weighed down by the heavy orc armour.   
They hadn't been following the orcs for that long before Ruin suddenly tripped over something.   
"Are you okay?" asked Andtalathiel, stooping by her cousin's side.   
"Didn't I tell you I hated that question," groaned Ruin, slowly raising herself up. "What did I trip over?"   
Andtalathiel looked. "Ugh...uggghh...."   
"What is it?!" screamed Ruin, still trying to lift herself. She turned and looked for herself.   
It was a severed orc head.   
"Ick!" squeaked Ruin, but she quickly got over her shock. "I wonder how come I didn't notice it..."   
"Probably too busy keeping a watch on the troup of orcs," suggested Andtalathiel. She looked up, into the distance. "Hey...come to think of it...where _are _all the orcs?"   
"Maybe they ran out of our eyeshot, while we were looking for what tripped me," said Ruin softly.   
"But they weren't that far in the distance..." whispered Andtalathiel. "Something is wrong..."   
At that very moment, about five orcs leapt out from the jagged rocks surrounding them and drew their swords.   
"Aha," choked Ruin. "This complicates things a bit.."   
Ruin stumbled to her feet, pulling out her dagger. Andtalathiel followed suit, but two against five? What kind of odds was that?   
Ruin edged up to Andtalathiel.   
"Fight, or no?" she hissed.   
"Erm, well, if we don't?"   
"Captured. Or killed. Probably both with a mix of torture to smooth things out."   
"Aha. Fight?"   
"Either we get killed, captured, hurt, mortally wounded and left for dead, or maybe we would win."   
"Not likely."   
"No."   
"Fight!"   
The orcs were first to advance. A large, snarling brown one leaping right onto Ruin. Before she had time to react he had snatched her up by the hair. She screamed of the pain, and he tossed her to the side. She hit a rock, and fell.   
Andtalathiel was shocked. Ruin! She turned to see the leader jump towards her, and before she knew it, he was standing by her, growling and holding out a long sword.   
Instinctively she slashed, shutting her eyes and forcing the sword to swing with all her might. She opened her eyes.   
He was dead.   
The same terrible feeling came over her, and she wanted to fall to her knees and retch. She saw Ruin, bruised from hitting the rock, lying pale on the ground.   
She fought.   
The remaining orcs leaped at her, swords and daggers drawn. She sliced her sword around, without looking at all, just so long as she hurt them. They deserved it, the filthy beasts. No mercy, no pity, no heart…   
Suddenly she stopped. All but two lay dead on the ground. She had killed them. No mercy, no pity, no heart, she hadn't even stopped to think about it, she had just slashed cruelly away.   
What is soiled was once white.   
She was covered in blood, the blood of which she had killed. Without pity.   
Words came to her, ones that she had never heard or seen, but she heard them, like a shadow from some distant time, when the earth was in mortal danger…   
"Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?"   
No, I can't.   
"Then do not be so quick to deal out death to those who deserve it."   
She fell, and wept. She was sobbing, sobbing and retching, and then it went black.   
* * *   
Andtalathiel was beginning to wake. And as soon as she woke, she remembered.   
"No," she sobbed. "No, no, no..."   
She wanted to hide from what she had done, get up and run somewhere, though she didn't know where. She tried to move, but she couldn't. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around.   
She was chained to a rock. Ruin was chained next to her. It was hot and uncomfortable, and a sharp piece of stone was digging into her back, causing her awful pain. But not so painful as the thought of what she had done...   
Andtalathiel shut her eyes again. She didn't care what happened to her now. Let them kill her. She deserved it.   
But Ruin....   
Andtalathiel forced herself to think, think about what they could do, how they could escape. After all, she might deserve death, but Ruin didn't. Think of Ruin...   
She tugged at her chains, but they wouldn't budge. She tried to move her feet but they had been chained to the rock, too. Beside her, Ruin gave a soft groan. She was beginning to come round. Her face was pale, her forehead bruised dark purple and black. The contrast between pale face and flaming hair stood out more than ever.   
Andtalathiel hoped she was okay.   
* * *   
Ruin awoke with a start, trying to grab her dagger. Where was that orc?   
It all became sharp. She remembered, being tossed to the rock, and that was it. She looked at Andtalathiel.   
What in Arda? Why was she crying? If they had hurt her, she would…   
"Andtalathiel? What's wrong?"   
"I killed." she replied, harshly.   
"It's all right, you had to-" Ruin tried to calm her.   
"Without mercy. Without regret, or pity, or…"   
"You feel it now, don't you?"   
"It's too late. I already did it." she said bitterly, clenching her fists.   
"Enough of that now! You, keep them apart and make sure they don't talk to each other!" said the new leader, and a grey, large orc with long hanging arms roughly kicked Ruin aside.   
"Ow…" she muttered, closing her eyes. "Estel quelumuva, Andtalathiel."   
"Queluminyel." Andtalathiel whispered back, before the orc roughly kicked her.   
* * *   
The days that followed were the most miserable of their lives. The orcs most certainly did not treat them well. They were kicked and shoved around, jostled about and thrown or dropped to the floor several times. Ruin bitterly longed to reach for her dagger, but the orcs had tied their hands behind their backs. Andtalathiel was so miserable that she simply obeyed every gruff order, did not resist when they pushed her around, and only wept when they kicked her.   
They were barely even allowed to speak to each other. Those moments, when they got to exchange a few words, were the happiest they had. They only ever got to speak a few sentances to each other before they were hauled away again.   
"Don't lose hope," Ruin would say softly. Andtalathiel would nod, or sometimes give a brief, watery smile.   
They had no idea where the orcs were taking them, but they were certainly travelling somewhere. Every day that went by, the sky glowed a darker red in colour and sun became almost black, like an eclipse. There was no doubt that they were heading somewhere they would not want to go. But there was nothing they could do.   
Argh, thought Ruin. We can't let this happen. Gotta get out somehow.   
Andtalathiel was in no good shape, which meant Ruin was now in charge.   
Grrr…Ruin hated being responsible for someone else. She got into enough trouble by herself. Let others who know more take charge. If you don't like what they say, go your own way. Worry worry worry…she was beginning to worry…she did that sometimes, but tried not to show it. Worry bred worry. Anger bred anger. And jokes bred laughter, which meant happiness.. Ruin regarded it almost in fact of a job, to be a joker. Certainly she tried not to show much weakness. If you showed you could be hurt, you would be. So always be either happy or in need of pity. Everyone likes to pity someone. Play the baby when you could, it worked.   
She struggled some, groping for her pocket…she was surprised the orcs didn't take her dagger. Stupid, stupid mistake…but then who said to look a gift horse in the mouth? She grasped some more…   
"What are you doing, little elf?" jeered their guard.   
"Nothing. Neither are you, I see, except for holding a sword and playing wise." Ruin said.   
"You little…" growled the orc, raising up his sword.   
"Ah, playing fierce now too?" jeered Ruin. "You ought to become an actor, you almost make it look real."   
The orc growled, and stood up high. "I'll teach you to m-"   
His head went flying, and he landed on top of Ruin, as she lay on her stomach. Quickly she worked, groping for the dagger in his belt.   
"We need these two alive." shouted the leader. "I don't want to see them damaged! Whip them if you must, but only whip!"   
Orcs pulled the dead body off of Ruin. She rolled over, hiding the dagger behind her.   
The leader of the orcs leaned close to her.   
"Another incident, and I may forget orders. You had better behave."   
"But sir, I didn't do anything! He was going to kill me! Please let us go!" she sobbed, making tears run down her face. She had mastered this technique long ago. Look weak, she thought, sound weak.   
The orc stepped away. Clearly they had no idea of escape. No guts for it, either. Weaklings. If only all good were this way.   
Andtalathiel watched on. She was _really_ crying, but the tears stopped for a few moments as she looked at Ruin, faking miserable sobs and making a very good job of looking pathetic. She thought she understood what Ruin was trying to do.   
"But...please!" choked Ruin pitifully. "Don't do anything to us...don't be so harsh....my arms ache so much. Please, just loosen the ropes around my hands, just a little! I can't stand the pain anymore!"   
The orcs exchanged glances, then laughed cruelly. One especially big, ugly one leant over and put his face close to Ruin's. Ruin recoiled at his foul, hot breath.   
"If you think we're going to give you a chance of escape, elf," he growled, "you've got another thing coming."   
Ruin squirmed in her ropes. "Please!!"   
But the orcs were hard as steel, and felt no pity. They whipped Ruin and Andtalathiel and made them walk on. All the way Ruin squealed and moaned and made a great fuss about her aching arms. Eventually even the orcs were fed up of the noise she was making. They stopped.   
"Quiet, elf!" they bellowed. "Or we may have to silence you the brutal way!"   
"Please stop calling me 'elf', I have a name," muttered Ruin under her breath.   
"What was that?!" snarled a particularly large, violent looking orc.   
"I said, my arms ache!" wailed Ruin, acting once more.   
The orcs exchanged glances again, but this time they were looking serious. "Just loosen the ropes slightly, to shut her up," suggested one in a low growl. "I can't stand much more of her whining."   
"What!" roared another, giving the first a shove. "And have her escape? You're mad!"   
"She won't escape if we don't loosen it too much!" objected the first orc. "We were supposed to bring them alive, but I may forget my orders and kill her if she carries on screaming much longer!"   
They argued for some time, and eventually angered each other so much that they got into a fight. Much roaring and swishing of swords later, the orc that had objected to them having their ropes loosened lay dead. The other orc, who had wanted to loosen the ropes to shut Ruin up, marched over to where Ruin and Andtalathiel were kneeling on the hot, dusty ground.   
"Here, and you'd better be quieter from now on, elf," he spat, loosening the ropes slightly.   
Instantly Ruin pulled herself free from the ropes, grabbed her dagger and swung it at the orc.   
"My name is Ruin!" she yelled, "and I think you'll be a little quieter from now on yourself!"   
She sliced his head clean off with a single blow.   
The other orcs instantly leapt towards Ruin, with swords drawn. With one swift movement Ruin cut through Andtalathiel's ropes, and Andtalathiel instantly drew her sword to fight, filled with new hope and strength.   
They knew they would survive if they fought.   
On they fought, with orcs never ceasing. It was a red blur to Ruin. Killing, stabbing, she hated it. But she had to, for everyone, and everything good on Arda. Their mission had to work. Hope couldn't fail.   
She fought, and she saw Andtalathiel, fighting and sobbing at the same time. Blood, red blood, flying. Blood they made fly. Evil.   
Sometimes for the sake of good, evil must be done. Evil came out of good. Perhaps it was possible for the reverse.   
Still blurry. Still hazy. Unreal.   
Run. Run.   
"Andtalathiel!" she yelled, turning and running. Andtalathiel saw.   
They ran. The remaining orcs ran also, still numerous, even with a score lying dead.   
Dead. Killed. By Ruin. By Andtalathiel.   
Run.   
They hid quickly, without thinking. In a small cave in the side of a mountain, they braced themselves to kill again.   
Orcs. Vile orcs tromped by. Like thunder. Orcs.   
Gone.   
They fell to the ground, and slept.   
* * *   
In the morning, Ruin stirred uncomfortably. She was bruised and dirty, and ached.   
Blurry…then clear.   
Too clear. She remembered last night, and the blood, and the killing, and then the days before, dragged along, marching to the song of a whip.   
She rolled over. She felt sick. She stared at her hands, red from the blood flying. Her head pounded.   
They had to.   
Her head cleared, and the pounding stopped. They had to, and that was that. The evil they had done was for good, in the end. Killing was still wrong. No, nothing changed there. Killing was wrong and that was that, clear as glass. But not everything was clear. Some things ended up being evil for the best. Bad could lead to good, just as good could turn bad.   
All that is soiled was once clean.   
All that is soiled can be cleansed.   
Ruin got up, suddenly cheerful again. It was over, they could go on living, and get this thing over with. And then return to normal, with the exception of a few bad memories.   
She went to wake up Andtalathiel.   
"What?" she muttered, and stirred. Then her eyes opened wide.   
"Ruin…"   
Then she got up, looking around her like some blind person who could suddenly see. Her eyes were panic stricken, her clothes torn and blood on them.   
"We killed them, Ruin. We killed them." She sobbed, and fell to her knees.   
"Andtalathiel, we had to. There was no other way. It will turn good."   
"They were elves once, Ruin. Before he twisted them, they had pity, hearts, love. They were elves once, and we killed them."   
"Andtalathiel!" snapped Ruin. Andtalathiel looked up sharply, speechless.   
"Andtalathiel. They were elves once. That time is gone. There was no trace of elf in these, I know. They had souls as dark as the chasm of Moria. Whatever good they once had in them is dead. They have no pity to feel, nor neither love, nor anything except how to survive! Killing is still wrong, but if good can change to evil, why can't evil change to good? Evil can, and it will. We killed, so our mission would live. Our mission is for good." yelled Ruin, her voice magnified in the cave. Andtalathiel sat, shocked. Ruin was serious. Ruin meant it.   
Andtalathiel pondered this. Finally she looked up.   
"It's no use sulking here, any way." she said, dusting herself off.   
Ruin was quiet, almost scared. What had she done? Just jumped out and told all she felt, straight from her heart. Why? She never could really tell another what she felt, whether mad, jealous, hurt, happy…she never did. It always sounded stupid, foolish.   
"Yes. Let's go."   
They set off on their treacherous peril once more, both not talking much as they walked along under the black, stormy sky. It was growing darker and darker the more they walked, and they both felt that some great evil was drawing near. The reason for this was soon explained.   
"Mount Doom," whispered Andtalathiel.   
And it was. Looming up tall in the distance, just within their sight range, was Mount Doom itself. Bubbling with fires and billowing smoke, the mountain was perhaps the most evil part of Mordor. They knew this, so why did they find themselves continuing to walk ever closer towards it?   
"Ruin...." said Andtalathiel softly. Ruin looked up at her, she could tell from the expression on Andtalathiel's face that Andtalathiel had been doing some thinking.   
"Yes?" she replied. Lightning flashed above them, making them jump in the flash of sudden bright light.   
"I've been thinking..." continued Andtalathiel. I knew it, thought Ruin.   
"What about?"   
"Us. Our mission. Do you think..." Andtalathiel took a deep breath, then she closed her eyes and made herself say the worst. "Do you think we will survive it?"   
Ruin was unsure of how to answer such a blunt yet serious question as this. "I...I don't know, Andtalathiel," she said at last. "But we must keep strong, and have hope..."   
Andtalathiel nodded. They walked on.   
The volcano was ahead, cracked and crumbled, old and evil. After the War it had been tumbled, but as of late, it had grown.   
Ruin looked up at it. Why hadn't it been torn down more?   
There was a force still, in Mordor. The very land had been tainted so deeply by the malice and evil of its dwellers. Ruin wasn't even sure if it could be turned back, to the way it once was. Before even Melkor…it staggered her mind. Hobbits and Men and Elves and Dwarves were not around then. Evil had been from the beginning.   
No, it hadn't. Even Melkor had been good once.   
She decided to stop thinking so hard. It hurt.   
Just what had they been assigned to do anyway? She had not paid much attention to the council, she felt so terrible with her cold. Andtalathiel knew, of course, ask her.   
"Erm, Tally?"   
"Yes?"   
"Um…well, so far we've done a splendid job of walking into Mordor, but what exactly are we to do?"   
"Elrohir said to find out if the rumors were true, about orcs amassing, and a new Dark Lord."   
"It's pretty evident that's what's going on, isn't it?"   
"Yes, but he also wanted another thing."   
"Erm…what?"   
"The name of the new Dark Lord."   
* * *   
They stood near the foot of the volcano, gazing up at it. It felt...strange, yet also unreal to be standing so close to the actual Mount Doom. It was like it wasn't really happening. They didn't want it to be really happening.   
"What are we going to do now?" asked Ruin in a whisper.   
Andtalathiel shook her head. "To be honest with you, I don't know."   
Ruin had to admit, she didn't really know either. How do you find out the name of a Dark Lord? The orcs obviously wouldn't tell them, they knew that much from when they captured the stray orc and it simply called its master "he". So what were they going to do? Find out exactly where this Dark Lord was, walk right up to him and say "Hi, we're Andtalathiel and Ruin, two half-elf half-hobbits who come from the Shire. Can you just tell us your name then let us go?"   
Andtalathiel sat down on a rock with her head in her hands, thinking. "Well, we're supposed to be spies. So, let's spy," she said finally. "As long as we're out of sight, and nothing sees us..."   
Ruin bit her lip. That sounded a hard task but it was really the only thing they could do.   
* * *   
Ruin sat, steeped in thought. Her head hurt from thinking so hard and long. How how how? How did one find out the name of a dark lord? Sauron and Morgoth had practically advertised theirs, and here was this one, secret and dark, and not letting no one know! She decided to take a walk, to clear her head. Tally was half hidden behind a rock, taking a nap, but Ruin was one of those people, that, once awake, find it very hard to go asleep again, until tired to exhaustion.   
She took her cloak, of elven make, light yet warm and durable, and of a color that seemed to blend her into the very earth. She also grabbed her dagger, not knowing what might be around.   
Carefully she crept, over the rocks, with utmost care. She was sure-footed, and soon made her way over the small ridge that separated them from the orc camp below. Swiftly, she darted into the shadow of one of the houses. Orcs went by, and some she recognized. Then there was a loud rumbling, and a carriage, or something of the sort, rolled by, drawn by two great black war-horses, taller than even Tally. The carriage itself was black, sharp and shiny, with evil runes and figures cut into it. Spiked wheels rolled over the harsh ground, cutting it up. Ruin looked up at the figure inside it.   
A dark figure, clad in black armor, and holding a black sword, was standing in it. His black hair flowed out behind him, as did his cape. His face was white, and he had red eyes, glaring at the orcs. He saw one, whispering to another, and it seemed he could hear them, for with a single slash, both heads went rolling. Ruin could not help but gasp a little, and instantly he looked at where she crouched in shadow. Fear went over her face, but the elven cloak eluded his sight, and she was not seen.   
The carriage rolled on, and Ruin's eye was drawn to one lone rune, etched deep in the black side.   
It was a g.   
* * *   
Back at where they had camped, Andtalathiel rolled awake suddenly. Ruin was missing. Had orcs tromped by and taken her, or worse? She hurried to her feet, but there were no signs of an orc around. Only Ruin's small footprints, going over the stones.   
Foolish hobbit! Why couldn't she stay out of trouble for one solitary moment?   
The orc camp was down there, she was sure to get caught.   
Andtalathiel quickly packed all their things, and set after her.   
It wasn't long before she reached the orc camp, and she knew she had to be very careful. She too was wearing her elven cloak, shielding her from plain sight. She was so light-footed that no-one heard her arrival. But still, she crouched in shadows, and tried to breathe lightly, so the giveaway sound could not be heard.   
Ruin's little footprints dotted here and there, confusing Andtalathiel slightly. Where had she gone, and where was she now? Andtalathiel suddenly shrunk back behind a rock as a couple of orcs approached. They were walking towards each other, and they appeared to be about to have a conversation.   
"He was here just now," one of them said, by way of greeting.   
He? Andtalathiel listened, intrigued.   
"I know. See what became of those who spoke his name," said the other, pointing to the two beheaded corpses.   
So he doesn't like the orcs - or anyone for that matter - saying his name, thought Andtalathiel to herself. That's interesting. But its also irritating. It's going to make it really hard to find out his name, she realised.   
"We must be careful," the first orc grunted. "I would not like to end up like them."   
Both orcs nodded their heads at each other, and carried on walking.   
Even after they were long gone, Andtalathiel didn't move. She was too busy taking in everything she had heard.   
Interesting, she thought to herself. This is far darker and more challenging than I had imagined.   
* * *   
Ruin was back at the camp, and very puzzled. No sign of a struggle, just Andtalathiel, going off into the orc camp. Why in Arda had she done that? Then she saw her own footprints, leaving a plain trail…foolish, foolish, foolish! Why hadn't she left a note or something!   
Well, what to do? If she took off after Andtalathiel, she would either get caught, or probably not find her, since her footprints by now would be hopelessly muddled. Stay here then? Andtalathiel had taken all the packs, blankets, and things. This place was not the best covered, either, and an orc going by would see everything.   
Between the two, she decided. Find Andtalathiel, and she can be the leader. It was too much for Ruin.   
She set off, following the tracks of her cousin as they went over the ridge. Into the orc camp they led, following her own that she had made the first time.   
Over rocks, into shadow, past the corpses…and what was Andtalathiel doing? The footprints led into an old, tumbled shack. It smelled rank, like orcs and dragons, and it was very dark. But there was no one in it, and no footprints leading out of it, and nothing in it save a ratty old rug, now threads almost. Ruin kicked this aside in despair.   
A trapdoor was under it.   
Ruin pulled it up with a creak, and stepped in.   
* * *   
Andtalathiel looked around. Yuk, she thought to herself. It stinks in here. Besides, where am I?   
She was, of course, down the trapdoor. But what _was _down the trapdoor? Just as Andtalathiel was thinking that, a torch suddenly flared on, filling the dark room with flickering firelight. It was much easier to see now. Andtalathiel took a cautious step forward. She was in a small, square stone room. The walls were dank and dripping, and tinged green with moss and mould. Andtalathiel screwed up her face in disgust. This place was foul.   
Well, Ruin obviously wasn't down here, and Andtalathiel was about to turn around and go right back when suddenly she saw something that made her stop in her tracks. On one of the walls, there was the outline of a door...with engravings on it. Andtalathiel suddenly saw a flashback of a scene long ago, she knew it was before her time but she saw it as clear as though it was before her...   
It was outside Moria. There was a door, like this one but grander, with engraved runes on it. Andtalathiel heard a voice from the past inside her head, as though it was whispering in her ear...   
"If you are a friend, you speak the password, and the door will open."   
This is a hidden door, Andtalathiel suddenly knew. I just have to say the password and it will open.   
But what is the password?   
Lets just start basic, thought Andtalathiel to herself. I'll try the Elvish word for "open".   
"Edro," she said loudly and clearly. Much to her surprise, the stone door swung open, revealing a long dark corridor lined with flickering torches. Andtalathiel gasped in surprise. Slowly she walked down the passage, her hand perminantly resting on her sword, just in case.   
What she didn't know was, to make the hidden door close again, you had to speak the elvish word for "close".   
So she left the door wide open.   
* * *   
Ruin darted quickly down the passage. She trod lightly, reaching out in front of her to feel her way. The walls were soft, and slimy, and it smelled like rotting flesh. She saw a dim light ahead. It was cold, so she huddled in her cloak for a moment. The light danced ahead, beckoning her to come.   
She decided, that for the moment anyway, it would be safer to crawl. She got down on the slimy ground, and slunk forwards, not forgetting that if there should be light ahead, it would be for dark purpose. Her short dagger was the only weapon she had, and she could not reach it if she was crawling, so she darted it out of its sheath and bit onto the blade, carrying it with her mouth. She took off her belt, and caught the cloak underneath it, binding it around her waist to disguise her form. After all this, she carefully crept forwards to the light, streaming from an open door ahead. Getting closer, she saw that it was engraved with symbols and letters, and was elvish. An elvish door in the land of Mordor? Riddles again.   
Well, it was not doing anybody any good if she just stood here. Go back or in? She looked at the floor. Andtalathiel had gone in.   
She crawled in, on hands and knees, staying near the wall, and trying to blend into the shadows. She lifted her head to peer around the dark and dank room. It was carved from stone, and dark runes were etched deep in the walls. In the very centre there was a hole, going about ten feet into the deep underground. Ruin edged up close to it.   
"Tally!" she gasped, and nearly fell in. Andtalathiel was lying at bottom, and not moving.   
Then there was a loud, cracking sound, and her head hurt, and then all went out.   
She awoke, groaning, at the bottom of the hole. Andtalathiel was seated in a corner, with her knees drawn up, staring at the wall.   
"Tally, where are we?" asked Ruin. "And do we have anything to eat?"   
A dark voice filled the hole, coming from above.   
"Eating is the least of your worries, little elf." It laughed, dank and cold.   
Andtalathiel stirred, as though from a trance.   
"He got us, Ruin. We failed. We lost." she muttered, not looking up.   
"What?" said Ruin, very confused and with a splitting headache to match.   
"Listen to your wiser cousin. I have caught you, and your 'quest' has failed." roared the same sinister voice.   
Andtalathiel stared brooding at the ground, tracing in the dust with her finger a rune. Ruin looked at it and shuddered, for it meant dark things.   
"Tal, why are you writing that?" she hissed, but Andtalathiel did not look up. "Tal!" moaned Ruin, shutting her eyes. It seemed as though it was very dark and evil, and Ruin was scared. They would be tortured and killed if they did not escape, and Tally just sat there, making dark runes in the dirt. Ruin got mad, and she grabbed Andtalathiel, and yanked her head up to look at it. She gasped again, and a wave of fear swept over her face, for the eyes of Andtalathiel were dead, and cold. She did not know Ruin, but roughly shoved her aside and continued to draw the runes.   
Ruin shivered, drawing her elven cloak around her. She wondered what had happened to her dagger.   
Andtalathiel stood up, eyes empty. She held out her sword, the one from the body of the orc, and walked towards Ruin, slowly, like she was weighed down. Ruin cringed in a corner, pressing her self against the wall. Andtalathiel stepped closer, and held out the sword. No sign of light flickered in her brown eyes, and her face was still and dreadful.   
Ruin was afraid, scared more than she had ever been in her entire life. Andtalathiel strode closer, face not alive, not Tally, not real…   
"Ava nwalmen!" she whimpered, shutting her eyes. She felt the cold, harsh metal against her throat, and she gulped, and shut her eyes tighter. "Tal…"   
"Ruin?"   
Andtalathiel said it, tasting it almost, as though she had never heard it before. Ruin opened an eye, and peered up at her.   
Slowly, the sword dropped, and Ruin breathed deeply. Andtalathiel stood still, pondering something. Her eyes were once again full of life, not empty and soulless.   
"Ruin."   
"Tal! You're back!"   
"Yes, I…am."   
Andtalathiel's eyes glittered as though she was remembering a distant memory. "What happened to me?!"   
Ruin trembled. "I'm not sure...it was like you were possessed..."   
Andtalathiel flopped down in a corner, picking up the sword and putting it away slowly. She lowered her eyes to the runes she had been drawing, and blinked at them in disbelief.   
"Ruin...did I do those?"   
Ruin nodded fearfully. She was still afraid, even though Tally was herself again. This place was dark, the one who captured them was dark, and whoever he was, he had the power to make them turn dark as well.   
"What are we going to do?" sighed Andtalathiel at last, leaning against the walls of the pitt and staring blankly ahead of her.   
Ruin too was crouching in a corner, unable to conceal her fear. "I don't know, Tal," she whispered. "I really don't know."   
The days crept by, as they sat alone in the pit. No one guarded the hole, but there was no way of escape. From time to time, someone would throw down food, but this varied.   
Ruin, in the meantime, was grappling for any idea of how to get out.   
Can't climb it, too smooth. Maybe if I stood on Andtalathiel's shoulder's I could get out…or the other way around, but she's too big, she mused, shutting her eyes and clutching her hair. And I'm not leaving her. That's not right. I won't ever lose Tally.   
Andtalathiel was musing escape also.   
"Ruin," she whispered. "I know how to escape. You stand on my shoulders, and climb out." Ruin winced.   
"I couldn't. I couldn't lift you out."   
"I know. But you could get help, or finish the thing by yourself. Better for that than for both of us to sit here." said Tally.   
Ruin tangled her fingers in her hair, something she did when frustrated. "No, it's not. We're friends, and I won't desert you."she said, almost crying. Tally…I can't lose you, she thought, begging silently.   
"Ruin, that's selfish. I am not the only one at risk. If you do not, who knows what will happen to everyone? Just because you want me alive, does all of Arda have to suffer?"   
Ruin looked at the ground. Selfish. All she want- Want. It was selfish. She would go.   
"Tal…what if I come back for you, and you're-"   
Andtalathiel looked at Ruin. Scared. For herself, and for Tally, Ruin was scared.   
"I won't be. Promise."   
* * *   
Ruin got on her shoulders, and was slowly lifted up. She grappled for the edge of the hole, and with a grunt, was on the ground beside it.   
Tally looked up, and Ruin tried to smile, but could not.   
"Tal…I don't want to."   
"Want? Ruin, this is not about want. It is not about you, or me. It is about not letting hope fail."   
"Estel quelumuva…" whispered Ruin, shutting her eyes hard. Then she opened them. "Queluminyel."   
And she was gone, creeping back up the passage.   
Andtalathiel slumped down in the hole, thoroughly miserable. No, don't wallow in your self-pity, she told herself sternly. This isn't about you. Sit up, cheer up and try to believe that everything will be okay...   
"Avo gosto," she whispered to herself softly. "Hope will not fade."   
* * *   
More days passed. Andtalathiel didn't know what to do with herself. There was really nothing to do at all. She drew pictures in the dust at her feet, she was so restless. It was whilst doing this, that she made an unbelievable discovery.   
"There are those runes I wrote when I was possessed," she noticed one day, as she sat idly tracing a drawing of herself and Ruin in the sand. Seized by a sudden flare of anger, she made to scrub them all out with her fist.   
It was only then that she considered reading them to see what she had written.   
"G....U....L....." whispered Andtalathiel. "N....E.....R...."   
Gulner? What, or who, was that? It sounded almost like a name...   
Andtalathiel suddenly let out a weak cry. It hit her at long last. That was the name of the new Dark Lord.   
Gulner.   
"Ruin!" screamed Andtalathiel, tears pouring down her face as she slammed herself against the slippery sides of the hole in frustration. "RUIN!"   
But it was no good. Ruin was out there, maybe in danger, or captured, or worst of all, killed....and it was all in vain. The name had been right there all along, right under their noses. It was more than she could stand.   
"Ruin..." she sobbed weakly, losing energy and slowly crumpling back to the floor again. "Ruin..."   
Her words echoed off the walls of the pitt.   
But no-one heard her, and no-one heeded her.   
And Ruin did not come.   
* * *   
Ruin, however, was not dead. She had made her way to the town, and stole some armour, and a sword. How to find out the dark lord's name…   
She tried not to think of Tally, in that hole. Every time she did, she just wanted to run right to her and rescue her. Selfish thoughts.   
She had no idea how to find out his name. No one spoke it. Those who did- she shuddered, remembering the orcs, and then the shine of the sword, and their heads fell to the ground.   
What to do? What could she do? She was so little, so unable. Why had she even come along?   
Tally. That's why. She wanted to be with Tally, and she still did. She wanted for things to be happy, and have happy adventures, with no death or horror or any of this.   
Well, she couldn't find out the name of the dark lord, but she could get Tally. She would get Tally. Maybe if she couldn't figure it out, someone else could. Tally would know what to do. Tally would help her, and comfort her, and say that it would be all right, and it would be, because Tally said so.   
But she had said not to. Don't worry about me, I will be fine. Go do what you have to do.   
Tal, I can't. I can't find it out. I can't do anything. All I want is for you to be right by me, she thought. I can't do it, I don't know how. I just want you here now.   
She sat down, and grasped her hair, and cried in frustration, anger, and loneliness. She just could not. She had to get Tal.   
Quickly she threw off the armour. She did not need it. She clasped her cloak around her waist, and pulled the hood low. Some rope she took, and wrapped it around her shoulder.   
Then she found the tunnel, and went down it. The same light flickered, and she crept on hands and knees again. But the door was shut.   
She had no idea what the password was, or how to open it at all. This was too much, and she screamed and pounded the door.   
"Let me in! Let me in!" she cried, banging on the door in a fury and despair. She had to reach Tally. She would do anything to see Tally, and hear Tally speak, just to be with Tally. She had to get in.   
Then she heard it. Tally. Tally was there, on the other side of the door. Ruin could stand it no longer. Picking up a rock, she threw it with all of her might straight at the middle of the door.   
Whether it was some miracle, unexplainable by mortals, or that the door was aged and ruined by evil, the rock hit it just right, and it crumbled to pieces.   
Ruin rushed in, and there, at the bottom of the pit, was Andtalathiel.   
"Ruin?" she gasped, looking up. "Ruin! I was so afraid…" Andtalathiel sobbed, unashamed of the tears.   
For Ruin, nothing could show her joy. In other places, she would have jumped and leaped. But the feeling of joy and relief that swept through her now was one too strong, and she did not show it. Ruin felt love, and hate, and all the in-between feelings, but she never showed them. They were too solemn, and made her feel awkward, or she could never quite make herself say them, so she turned one side to the world, the side she felt the most comfortable with, the funny, carefree side. She could never help this, and she did not know why, but I think it was the hobbit part of her. Hobbits fear to speak lightly of serious things, and so they do not speak of them at all.   
"Come on, I've got rope." she said, and lowered it down. Once at the top, the two rushed from that terrible place. They ran out of the tunnel, and into the light of the red sun. But they did not stop. They ran from the orc settlement, ran and ran until their sides were feeling as if they were stabbed, and continued to run, until Ruin, utterly spent, collapsed.   
"Ruin…" whispered Andtalathiel, before she too collapsed.   
* * *   
When Ruin awoke, she thought she was dreaming. Tally, good old Tally, was sitting with her. Ruin stirred slightly.   
Andtalathiel looked at her, and sobbed a little.   
"I was so sure you were dead…" she whispered. "I was so mad at myself, for letting you go."   
"I don't know his name." said Ruin.   
"It's okay, Ruin. Everything is fine." whispered Andtalathiel. "I know it, and we can go home."   


  


  
  
  
  
  


  
  


  
  


  


  
  
  


  


  
  


  
  


  


  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  


  



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